New Arizona head football coach Mike Stoops spent his first full day atop the Wildcat program yesterday, meeting with returning players and planning his next venture - recruiting trips in both Arizona and California starting today.
Stoops, 41, spent his last official day as associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator of Oklahoma Saturday, as the Sooners were defeated 35-7 in the Big 12 championship game in Kansas City. He returned to Tucson Sunday afternoon to take over the post at Arizona.
Stoops spent most of his first official day getting some organizational work completed on top of meeting with UA athletics director Jim Livengood and other department officials. Stoops then held met with returning Arizona players in the late afternoon.
"I'm excited, almost enough to get out there and start playing right now," junior-to-be defensive back Darrell Brooks said after the meeting.
Brooks said Stoops told his new team that he expects to see improvement in work habits, adding that Stoops was confident Arizona would be a changed team come next season.
Stoops said he plans to emphasize his recruiting efforts mostly in Arizona, California and Texas.
"We feel like we can put together a great recruiting class," Stoops said, also noting his brothers' previous success as a contributing factor. "What Bob's done at Oklahoma, having Mark come from Miami of Florida, all that will help."
Stoops named Mark, Miami's defensive backs coach for the past three seasons, to the UA coaching staff last week, along with Eric Wolford, who comes to Tucson after a spending a year as an assistant at North Texas.
Mark Stoops, 36, will be Arizona's defensive coordinator next season, while Wolford will work on the offensive side of the ball.
Mike Stoops said he has contacted a number of potential coaches to fill out the staff, but added that he could wait until after the college bowl season.
"Some of the guys will coach in bowl games and some are in the NFL. I'm taking my time, too, in order to make the right choices," he said.
Stoops said he had not decided if he would join Oklahoma, coached by his older brother, Bob, in the Nokia Sugar Bowl for the Bowl Championship Series title Jan. 4 in New Orleans. He said if he did attend it would not be in the capacity of OU's defensive coordinator.
"Obviously, all my time now is really involved with the University of Arizona and our football team here," he said.